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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29269623">No Matter the Past, I Love You in the Present</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/finley_ladin/pseuds/finley_ladin'>finley_ladin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But I love both of them, Established Relationship, Good Parent Quirin (Disney), Healthy Relationships, Hugo and Quirin have a conversation, Hugo is anxious, I may or may not continue this, Inspired by Varian and the Seven Kingdoms - Kaitlyn Ritter &amp; Anna Lencioni, M/M, Varian is a nervous wreck, Varigo - Freeform, We love a snarky lovey raccoon, implied/referenced past trauma, not sure yet - Freeform, rated t for ONE swear</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:08:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29269623</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/finley_ladin/pseuds/finley_ladin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After meeting Quirin for the first time, Hugo worries he doesn't approve of him and Varian being together. Worried about the stress his father's disapproval would put on Varian, Hugo sets out to solve the issue and talk to Quirin one on one. By doing this, Hugo finds that there might be more to his boyfriend than he cares to let on. More demons than he cares to introduce.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hugo &amp; Quirin &amp; Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Hugo/Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Matter the Past, I Love You in the Present</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Would you look at that? The first time I'm posting on AO3.<br/>I hope you enjoy whatever this is, it took a little bit to finish because school is the devil.<br/>I gift you two nervous boys and an approving dad.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">One knock. That was the only thing he had to do now, besides the entire conversation. All the prep, all the nerves, none of it mattered now. He had to know; he had to set things straight. It’s not like he could avoid it.</p><p class="p1">Hugo sighed, raising his hand to knock on the door. He probably looked like an idiot, standing in front of the village leader’s door for a solid minute now. If people were staring at him, Hugo didn’t know. It was that, or he was making it up and being irrational-</p><p class="p1"><em>Focus.</em> He knocked twice, deciding that one wasn’t enough, but three seemed like too many. Everyone knocked three times, but not Hugo. Hugo waited, almost impatiently. Varian had said that he was usually home at this point in the day- Demanitus, he hoped he was.</p><p class="p1">Sure enough, Quirin opened the door a few seconds later, blinking in surprise to see Hugo standing outside his door. Hugo offered a small, awkward wave and a matching smile.</p><p class="p1">“Hugo?” he said, almost stating it.</p><p class="p1">“Hey,” he almost whispered. Hugo looked away. This was going great, wasn’t it? “D-Do you have a minute?” Hugo looked back up and held up a hand. “If not, that’s okay, I can come back if you’re busy-“</p><p class="p1">“I’m not.” Hugo dropped his hand, putting both in his pockets, praying Quirin hadn’t noticed that they were shaking.</p><p class="p1">“I- okay.” Hugo chewed his inner lip, resisting the urge to kick the dirt like a child. “Can we talk?” Quirin nodded, opening the door, motioning for Hugo to come inside. Hugo thanked him, glancing at the floor, gulping. Why was he so nervous? The man didn’t <em>hate him</em>, did he? He hated him- this was a bad idea Varian is going to be so mad when he found out he did this- <em>focus!</em></p><p class="p1">“Everything okay?” Quirin asked from behind him, Hugo jumped, turning to the older man and nodding.</p><p class="p1">“Y… not really, I uh,” he sighed, muling over his words for a moment. He had the whole thing planned, now he couldn’t bring himself to say the rehearsed speech. “I’m just going to come out and say it, because I don’t know how else to do it and not cutting to the chase is annoying, so, if this seems sudden I’m sorry but I <em>really</em> just need to clear this up-“</p><p class="p1">“Hugo.” He jumped again, straightening his posture. Did he have any equanimity left? No. Did he have hopes of getting it back? Probably not.</p><p class="p1">“Right- sorry, sorry, I’m sorry. Uh- I just- you seemed a little apprehensive when you found out Varian and I were dating, and I just wanted to make sure you weren’t- didn’t- don’t- that it’s not because of <em>me</em>. That didn’t make <em>any</em> sense I am so sorry-“</p><p class="p1">“Hugo-“</p><p class="p1">“Sorry! I just, I love your son, and I know that if you don’t approve of us or me, he’s going to get incredibly stressed out, and sad, and all that which neither of us wants for him. So, I figured if we sorted out now before he noticed, at least I don’t think he noticed, we could all avoid an unnecessary stressful situation and all of that.”</p><p class="p1">“Hugo, it’s not-“</p><p class="p1">“And if it’s because of Donella, I get it, but I- I’m not her. I don’t <em>want</em> to be her, and I just, yeah. Please don’t judge me on that because I know how awful she can be sometimes, and I just- I’m not her. I would never hurt Varian, I care about him, I want him to be happy and I know you do too and if we have this thing going on between us, he’ll get upset.”</p><p class="p1">“I don-“</p><p class="p1">“And if it’s because you’re homophobic, I will be a <em>lot</em> less understanding because of all the things to be mad about, that ones stupid. If it’s a me thing, fine, I get it, but if it’s that then I really can’t help you.”</p><p class="p1">“Hugo,” Quirin said, calmly. He froze, his blood running cold.<em> Calm, cool, collected- throw it out the window, Hugo, because you are failing.</em></p><p class="p1">“I um- shit I’m rambling,” Hugo cringed, “I- I have nothing else to say because I butchered that whole thing, so, yeah…” Hugo snuck a glance at Quirin, who was standing a little ways away from him with a calm expression. Still, the man was incredibly intimidating. Whether it was because he was easily twice the size of him or because he was his boyfriend’s father, he did not know. Maybe a little of both. “I just want to clear whatever this is up.”</p><p class="p1">It was silent for a second, Hugo wanted to continue reasoning but bit his tongue, holding his breath. He didn’t know what the issue was yet, how did he expect to solve it.<em> Please say something, Quirin, I swear I did not go through all of that for you to say I was being irrational the whole time.</em></p><p class="p1">Quirin sighed, “Hugo, breath.” Hugo cringed, waiting for him to continue, subconsciously straightening his posture once again, playing with his sleeve. “It’s not you.”</p><p class="p1">Hugo blinked. “It’s not? Wait, <em>what</em>? How is it not me, it’s clearly something! I don’t- I’m confused,” he sighed. Quirin pulled a look, Hugo tensed up again. “Sorry, I- I’ll shut up and let you talk.”</p><p class="p1">“Thank you.” Hugo held his breath while Quirin sighed. “It’s not my place to tell you exactly what’s happening, but it’s not you.” Quirin was silent again, Hugo watched as he looked away from him to the couch in the other room. Hugo blinked, but kept quiet, watching Quirin, lost in thought. His eyes glazed over with an unreadable emotion Hugo almost took for sadness, maybe anger.</p><p class="p1">“Varian’s got some stuff to sort through, that he’s not exactly handling well.” Quirin went silent again, Hugo sighed.</p><p class="p1">“Is this about everything that happened with Rapunzel? Because I already know,” he said, gently. It was a touchy subject for everyone involved, so he tried to be as respectful as possible the rare times it came up. Quirin shook his head, almost sadly. Hugo didn’t know him enough to tell if it was or not.</p><p class="p1">“Not exactly.” Quirin tore his gaze away from the other room to the floor in front of him. “It’s not you, I just worry about him.” Hugo nodded, not sure how to respond to that. Quirin went quiet again, and Hugo continued to play with the bottom of his sleeve. “You love him?”</p><p class="p1">“I do,” Hugo breathed, looking up at Quirin, who was looking at him again.</p><p class="p1">“Then you guys will be fine, just, be patient with him, okay? He’s never been with anymore before.” Hugo nodded. He already knew that, Varian had told him, but if that was Quirin’s biggest concern then Hugo hoped they would be. Nothing told him otherwise.</p><p class="p1">“I will.” Quirin nodded again, saying a quiet thank you before moving from the door and past Hugo. He stood there awkwardly for a moment before turning to face him again. “I should get going,” he said, Quirin looking over at him again, “thanks for uh, for clearing that up.” Quirin nodded, and Hugo awkwardly turned to the door leaving.</p><p class="p1">Once he shut the door behind him, he felt he could breathe again. Quirin didn’t hate him, but it was still awkward. Hugo could relax now. Everything was going to be fine. With one last sigh Hugo left Old Corona, making his way back home. Luckily, it wasn’t too far away. For most of the walk Hugo zoned out thinking about some other things he had to do today, and soon enough he was there.</p><p class="p1">He hadn’t noticed until he heard chittering ahead of him, and he looked up to see Ruddiger jumping off Varian’s shoulder and up running to him. Varian was standing by their mailbox, grabbing whatever things were in there.</p><p class="p1">“There you are,” he said, “I was starting to worry.” Varian made his way over to him, Ruddiger chittering at Hugo almost disapprovingly. Hugo raised an eyebrow at him, teasing the raccoon.</p><p class="p1">“Why?” Hugo asked, looking back at Varian. Varian shrugged.</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know, I was confused.” Hugo chuckled, pulling Varian into a hug.</p><p class="p1">“I’m alright, V.” Varian returned the hug, resting his head in the crook of his neck.</p><p class="p1">“I know, it was dumb.” Hugo placed a kiss on top of Varian’s head.</p><p class="p1">“It’s fine.” Hugo pulled away from the hug, keeping an arm around Varian’s waist as they walked towards their house. Ruddiger hopping back onto Varian’s shoulder. “I thought you were working later?”</p><p class="p1">Varian chuckled. “Anthony made the wrong bolts for the installation, so there wasn’t much for me to do.” Hugo chuckled, pulling Varian closer.</p><p class="p1">“Sounds fun,” he joked. Varian laughed again.</p><p class="p1">“I ended up helping him make some because there was nothing else for me to do.” Hugo opened the door to the house, shutting it behind him as he strayed from Varian to get a drink.</p><p class="p1">“How long have you been home?” Varian shrugged again as Hugo opened the water bottle.</p><p class="p1">“About 20 minutes.” Hugo put his cup down, looking away from Varian. <em>I should tell him, I can’t keep things from him.</em> “You okay?” Hugo offered a weak smile.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, I, uh,” Hugo gave a dry chuckle, “okay it’s not that serious, but I talked to your father earlier.” Varian blinked dumbly, opening his mouth and closing it a few times to figure out what to say.</p><p class="p1">“Oh… okay? T-That’s fine? What-“</p><p class="p1">Hugo cut him off, “to make a long story short after I met him I thought he hated me because, I don’t know he just seemed off, and I got worried.” Ruddiger hopped off of Varian’s shoulder and onto Hugo’s, chittering at him.</p><p class="p1">“I didn’t know you were worried about that,” Varian mumbled, Hugo tried to pretend he didn’t sound somewhat guilty, “I mean I knew you were before but he likes you, Hugo.”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, I- I got that now, I just wanted to clear it up.” Varian smiled, briefly looking away.</p><p class="p1">“He’s just worried.” Hugo nodded, briefly wondering what happened. He pushed the thought out of his head. If Varian wanted him to know, he’d tell him in his own time. “You don’t have to tell me everything you do, Hugh.”</p><p class="p1">“To be fair, you were worried about me,” Hugo joked. Varian playfully rolled his eyes, smiling again.</p><p class="p1">“To be fair, I worry about everything.”</p><p class="p1">“True,” Hugo said, tilting his head to the side lightly. Varian laughed, and Hugo pulled him into a hug.</p><p class="p1">“I love you.”</p><p class="p1">“I love you too.” It was all a small conversation, not that monumental, was it? They were going to be fine. He was fine. Varian was fine.</p><p class="p1">At least, Hugo thought he was.</p>
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